


Sometimes A Family

by techieturnover



Category: Black Sails
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fix-It, Fluff, M/M, and i use that as an excuse to write communal childrearing, in which i wave my magic wand and silver doesnt betray the revolution, just a bunch of found family loving each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:00:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28058058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/techieturnover/pseuds/techieturnover
Summary: Sometimes he is still afraid he will wake up and all of this will be gone.But it has been almost a decade. Ten years of reunions and births and love that John still, at times, struggles to accept is real. And watching James abandon any sort of dignity to play with children strikes such a cognitive dissonance in his mind that for a moment he feels as if he is watching the scene from outside it, rather than in the room. It feels too warm, too affectionate, to be something he’s been allowed to be a part of.
Relationships: Captain Flint | James McGraw & John Silver, Captain Flint | James McGraw/Thomas Hamilton, Madi/John Silver
Comments: 8
Kudos: 44





	Sometimes A Family

**Author's Note:**

> So this came out of a convo I had a LONG time ago with Riotsofbloom and more recently with queer-crusader where I *insisted* I was capable of writing nice things for John Silver. So here you go. Nice things for John Silver. I have a few other drabbles in this verse but who knows if I'll get around to posting them. 
> 
> The kids are as follows:  
> Afryea + Kofi are Madi & Silver's kids  
> Jackie is Anne Bonny's daughter who James and Thomas adopted because piracy is no life for a kid, and also because James Said Pretty Please.
> 
> (Also, this isn't going to be a romantic/sexual silver/flint 'verse in any way, but they are very close. Just so you know, if that's what you're looking for, the '&' tag isn't a mistake. <3)
> 
> Also if it feels like this cuts off really suddenly IT DOES because Silver started panicking and I went 'no sir this is a fluff only fic, the angst one comes later.'

“-and so then your father tells the men-”

“Careful,” John warns, pausing in the braid he’s currently working on. Both children look between them but James’ eyes have that look in them that means he’s already figured out a way around the warning. John rolls his eyes, shakes his head and goes back to the braid, listening with half an ear himself - even though the story is one he knows intimately. 

“He tells them that with Rogers’ defeat we’re closer than ever to defeating the empire. We returned home to find that even more of our friends had joined us - from as far as India they came, some of them.”

“That’s so far!” Afryea exclaims, and John laughs. 

“It is.” James nods. Indulging the children in their excitement is one of his favorite pastimes. “Once the news that England had been defeated in Nassau spread our numbers grew quickly. We could hardly keep up with the demand to house and feed them all.”

“But how did you win?” Impatient as always, Kofi only wants to know the ending. He is entirely unlike his namesake, much to Madi’s amusement.

“That came quite a bit later,” John interjects. He nudges Afryea’s side as he finishes the final braid on the side he’s been working on. “Scooch over.” He almost succeeds in not wincing as she clambors excitedly over to the other side, knocking his bad leg as she does so. 

“It did. We won’t get to it tonight. But there are plenty of exciting battles in between. You haven’t heard the story of how your mother saved Thomas.”

“Is it very bloody?” And James laughs again. Yes, and very embarrassing for the British forces who had them cornered.”

The thought occurs to John they haven’t seen James’ other half for quite some time, nor their daughter.

“Speaking of Thomas, do you think he needs help?” 

“With Jackie? No. Best to let him handle her. She never listens to me, anyway.” 

“That’s because you’re funny when you’re mad,” Afryea speaks up. James meets his eyes over the little girl’s head and John thinks about how anyone not in their family might react to that assertion. A voice from the stairs draws their attention. 

“Yes, the feared pirate captain Flint, outdone by a gaggle of children. Sounds about right, I think.” 

Thomas appears, carrying the aforementioned hellion in his arms. He sets her down, and the little girl - who looks more like James than she has any right to considering they are not related by blood - sits in her father’s lap immediately. And James McGraw, formerly the dreaded pirate captain Flint, kisses her forehead with a tenderness that almost embarrasses John to witness.

“Where was she?” 

“Playing with some frogs,” the little girl answers simply. 

“Playing with some frogs by trying to bring them in the house,” Thomas corrects her as he sits gingerly in the free chair beside the bed. “She’s lucky I’m the one that found her trying to catch them with Nanny’s headscarf and not Madi.” 

“Nanna said I could,” Jackie argues.

“Somehow I highly doubt she used those words exactly.” James says, taking the brush John had been using on Afryea’s hair and combing through the wild red hair on his daughter’s head. 

“Have you met Nanny? She’s worse with the children than you are.” Now that she’s given over most of her responsibilities to Madi, the former Queen has spent most of her time teaching the children how to disobey authority figures. Namely, them.

“It was only a little frog,” Jackie argues.

“Was it slimy?” Kofi cuts in, and the two of them are off on a tangent before any of the adults can stop them. All thoughts of a bedtime story - and bedtime itself - are forgotten in the excitement of something forbidden. Predictably, it is James who joins them, telling them about what type of frog it could have been, and which frogs are the most interesting ones on the island. And this quickly dissolves into a game which sees James - at almost sixty - rolling around the floor like a child himself. 

The openness with which James expresses himself now still shocks John more often than not. When they had first met it had seemed to John that the only emotions James had been capable of expressing were rage and a smug assuredness that he was right. There had seemed no room for compassion or joy or love in the ruthlessness he’d displayed. 

And John himself had taken that on. Even before Madi’s capture, he has realized how closely he had begun to mimic that singularity of feeling. How close fear came to destroying everything - closing the door that led to where they are now. 

Sometimes he is still afraid he will wake up and all of this will be gone. 

But it has been almost a decade. Ten years of reunions and births and love that John still, at times, struggles to accept is real. And watching James abandon any sort of dignity to play with children strikes such a cognitive dissonance in his mind that for a moment he feels as if he is watching the scene from outside it, rather than in the room. It feels too warm, too affectionate, to be something he’s been allowed to be a part of.

And yet here he sits, braiding his daughter’s hair and watching James play with his son; James’ lover and daughter and _Madi_ all part of a family he’s somehow managed to build despite his fear that it would all come crashing down. 

Afryea, meanwhile, has fallen asleep despite the commotion, her head resting heavily on his shoulder now that he’s finished fixing her hair. Thomas notices too, nudging James to draw his attention from the two excited six year olds he’s indulging.

“We should go.” James catches sight of John and Afryea when Thomas nods to them.

With an ease that must have been born from years of managing rowdy men, James extricates himself and Jackie from Kofi’s game. Thomas maneuvers the young boy into his own bed as John carefully slips from beneath his sleeping daughter. 

“You’ll see us tomorrow,” Thomas promises Kofi in exchange for his promise of sleep.

The four of them leave the two children, James now the one to carry Jackie as they get ready to depart. 

They find Madi at the table, and John makes a quick detour to the kettle of water that sits near the fire to refresh the tea he’s sure has long since gone cold. Their nation is not struggling - not with Nassau and the newly emancipated Americas acting as loyal trade partners - but there are nuances to running a country recognized by an empire that still remembers its subjugation that they are all still learning.

“How is everything looking?” 

“We should be all right. I will need to confirm with Max that our agreement holds, but we are not in violation of any of the trade embargos England and Spain have been enacting.”

“Much as I’m sure that would thrill them,” James drawls, and John snorts in bemusement. He returns the kettle as Thomas and Madi briefly discuss a specific part of the documents Madi has been working on.

“I think it looks fine. I can look it over fully in the morning if you’d like,” he offers, and she nods in thanks.

“I would appreciate it. Thank you Thomas.”

“Of course.” He leans down and whispers something else in her ear that John cannot hear, and Madi laughs. 

"I will speak with her."

The sight is a welcome one, but at the same time he has to tamp down on that old fear. The one that sees the people he loves interacting without him, and whispers about his absence.

John feels a hand rest on his shoulder and turns to see James. His hand is warm and heavy, and John leans into the touch. "Love isn't a competition." It's a reminder James repeats to him often. John nods.

"But it is a story, isn't it?" He murmurs, still watching.

"Maybe. But you don't need to fear the ending of this one." The hand on his shoulder squeezes gently as Thomas and Madi say their goodbyes. James moves away to also say goodbye to Madi, but John hangs back. When they have let themselves out, he takes the seat next to Madi. He is still turning over the night, and James' words. Madi must be able to tell - as she always can - because she puts aside the papers. 

“Is something bothering you?” 

“Not exactly.” It’s not a lie - he tries not to lie to Madi, anymore. He still struggles to put the truth into words, though. To understand the fear that still sometimes tries to cloak itself in reason. "There's so much love here."

"And that scares you." 

"It scares me that I could lose it."

Madi is silent as she thinks. This is a space they struggle to connect, sometimes. The fear of being abandoned has never taken hold in Madi the way it had in John. "We are a family. You are a part of my family, now. We don't give up on our own." She takes his hand, and her eyes twinkle in a way that more and more reminds him of James. "I understand you are afraid. But there is really nothing you can do about it, now. You, John Silver, are stuck with us."


End file.
